Radiant Fabrication, Inc.

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Nathan James Patterson

Nathan Schumacher

Kevin Lee Harris

Thomas Rockwell Mackie

Todd James Bakken

Benjamin L Cox

George Petry

A fused filament fabrication printer uses a plurality of fixed printing heads mounted to a structure over a build platform on which the model is built by constructing each layer of the model as the build platform is indexed through a multiplicity of successive print planes. The build platform may be in the form of a circular disk mounted for rotation about a z-axis and for linear motion along the z-axis between successive print planes, and for linear motion along a y-axis which is a selected radial direction perpendicular to the z-axis. Because the printheads are fixed, multiple printheads are easily affixed with respect to the build platform along the same radial line defining the y-axis transverse to the selected radial direction along which the build platform moves.

Fixed printhead fused filament fabrication printer and method

A fused filament fabrication printer has a fixed extrusion module having multiple printheads having print tips. The fixed arrangement of the printing heads allows the close spacing of multiple print tips in a printhead unit, and the simple routing of multiple plastic or metal filaments to the individual printing heads. The closely spaced print tips in the printhead unit share common components. An exemplary printhead unit has four printing heads which share a common heating block and heating block temperature sensor. The heating block incorporates a group of four print tips evenly spaced along a line. Each printing head has a separate filament which is controlled and driven by its own stepper motor through the heating block to one of the print tips. Printing of a part is by control of individual stepper motors which drive filaments through the heating block and through one of the printing tips.

3D printer and printhead unit with multiple filaments

A 3-D printer system moves a printed tool over a print surface with a mechanism controlling a rotational angle of an arm holding the print tool and a revolutionary angle of axis of rotation of the printable area to eliminate the disadvantages of conventionally used linear motion mechanisms.

Three-dimensional printing system using dual rotation axes

Growing community of inventors

Fitchburg, WI, United States of America

Nathan James Patterson